In this entry: Adding 100+ new items.

January 11

I've actually managed to make pretty much all of the required sprite sheets. I've expected to be making sprite sheets for a few days, but I've done it in a day. It's a good feeling - and it's twice as good when I know that for a while I will be doing only exciting tasks! Creating sheets is quite tedious.

January 12

Added new items to the item database, so I could see how they look in the game. Looking at them in the game revealed many tiny graphical issues.

January 13

Spent the day fixing the many tiny graphical issues.

January 14

Finished working on equipment graphics! It's all looking correct now. With that done, now I need to code items - set their stats, and implement new systems for the new item types. I was about to do that, but I've got distracted by writing books. I'm implementing several books, so I need to write a text for them. Planning to add eight books - four of them will contain the historical timeline of Kayos, three will explain the magic system, and one will be about demons. This should give players who will read those books an explanation for many of the things that happen in the game. I've managed to write most of the text today.

January 15

I was meant to finish writing books today, but I wasn't in the mood for it and so I decided to postpone books for now. Instead, I was making equipment icons.

January 16

Most of the icons are now complete, going to start working on the item gameplay soon - setting the stats for equipment, implementing food, drink, and elixir systems, etc.

January 18

I am done with icons now.
New crafting materials, spell instructions, alchemical products, etc. Notable items: 1) Aura battery. Increases maximum aura - goes to ammunition slot when equipped. This means the ammunition slot will be at least a little useful to builds that don't use arrows. 2) Steel blood elixir. Increases maximum health when consumed. The effect is overwritten when a different elixir is consumed. 3) Arrow bundles. Can be opened to add 1000 arrows to the inventory. I'm making arrows untradable - instead of arrows themselves, the players will buy arrow bundles - this will allow me to reduce the cost of arrows. 4) Metal cutter. An item that removes barbed wire fences. It will become useable in the future, but I'm adding it now for efficiency reasons.

January 21

I've been busy with some non-game development stuff the last few days, so I made little progress. Today I spend most of the day rebalancing item stats. Equipment now gives significantly more defense and health, so having armor will become more important. Also, this should help to negate the high damage of T3 and T4 weapons. I don't have much faith in the new numbers because it's based on nothing but speculation - my current plan is to simply test the game many times and keep adjusting stats until they become appropriate. I think this method fits the "handcrafted" nature of LOTLW, makes things more unpredictable and unique.

January 22

The majority of items are now implemented. The finish line for the Luma update is now in sight!

January 25

Today I finally got back to development - had to take care of several things on the previous days. One of them was submitting my game to Independent Game Festival. Fingers crossed! Anyway, I have implemented food, drink, elixir, and new ammunition slot item systems, fixed several problems with the items, did the arrow changes I mentioned earlier. Once item implementation is over, I'll be adding new items into the game - mostly through Luma's characters and crafting, which will be very exciting. With characters implemented, Luma will be complete and I'll move on to making three new quests that will take place in Luma, Eastern Trilith, and Moonrise Desert - filling these areas with even more content. Right now the main goal is to finish the story campaign - this would make the game finished and I would be able to release it. I will probably still continue working after that to make the game more polished and to implement the last of the planned features. So, yeah, that's the plan. Can't wait!

January 27

Today I have made it possible to craft multiple items quickly. This makes crafting very fast and fun - players will no longer spend minutes rapidly clicking to turn that silk grass into silk. I've also fixed problems with elixir crafting - vats did not support crafting non-stackable items. Finally, I've implemented Sword Siege ability - it's similar to Curse Conduit, but it applies corrupt and stagger curses instead of daze curse, and costs 30 aura to activate.

January 28

Today I have implemented two new abilities: Curse Arsenal and Healing Field.
Curse Arsenal can be used to change the curse of a beacon weapon type. For example, if the player is low on health, they can cast Curse Arsenal, change the curse to Heal curse, and then apply the curse on enemies to regain health. It's an ability with a lot of ways to use it and I can't wait to see what the players will come up with. Healing Field is also unusual for LOTLW - it's designed to be used by in the multiplayer mode - a signature ability of the healer's staff.

Well, that is all for this entry - in the next one, I'll be finishing Luma and resuming the story campaign development. Thanks for reading =]